Hamlin holds on to win at Darlington Raceway

DARLINGTON, S.C. - Denny Hamlin kept his cool at Darlington Raceway, even after a fueling problem wrecked his strategy in the Xfinity Series race on Saturday.

Hamlin had to make his final pit stop early because his Joe Gibbs Racing team failed to get enough gas in his tank on his prior pit stop.

When teammate Daniel Suarez tried to steal the win by stretching his fuel to the finish, it briefly seemed as if Hamlin would lose a race he dominated. Instead, he ran down Suarez with three laps remaining to deny Suarez his first career victory.

Hamlin led 117 of the 147 laps to give Toyota and JGR the win. JGR drivers have won eight of the last 10 series races at Darlington, and six of the last 12 Xfinity Series races this season.

"I'm almost glad we didn't [fill the tank]," Hamlin said. "We didn't want a caution to fall and trap us there, but I scraped the wall and kind of misjudged my line one time and got a little right-side damage and the car just stopped turning. I'm not sure if my right-front would have made the distance or not." On the fresher tires, with no concern about his damage after the pit stop, he easily chased down Suarez. It was Hamlin's third series win of the season, and all three have come from the pole.

JGR driver Kyle Busch passed Suarez for second, and Suarez finished third as the fleet of Toyotas swept the top three spots.

DARLINGTON, S.C. - Brad Keselowski won the pole for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race Sunday at Darlington Raceway, where he'll start up front for the first time all season while searching for his first Southern 500 victory.

Keselowski turned a lap at 178.874 m.p.h. Saturday to earn his first pole of the season. The Team Penske driver put his Ford in the top starting spot five times last year, but this marks just his third front row starting spot during 2015.

"It's probably the biggest pole I've ever had as far as what the track means," Keselowski said. "I've always thought of Darlington as one of the elite tracks."

Keselowski, who has two top-10s at Darlington but none since 2011, is hoping to use the Southern 500 as a springboard into the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship.